Freshman weight gain: Women with heavy roommates gain less

Sep 21, 2010

(PhysOrg.com) -- A new University of Michigan study finds that college women with roommates who weigh more than average gain less weight during their freshman year than women with slimmer roommates: half a pound versus 2.5 pounds.

That compares to the typical freshman weight gain of 2.5-to-6 pounds—much less than the mythical "Freshman 15."

"This finding seems counterintuitive, but there are some good explanations for why it may be happening," said Kandice Kapinos, an assistant research scientist at the U-M Institute for Social Research.

According to Kapinos, a labor and health economist, heavier roommates are more likely than average-weight women to diet. They also exercise more often and are more likely to use weight loss supplements and purchase college meal plans that limit access to food.

"It's not really the weight of your roommate that's important, but the behaviors your roommate engages in," Kapinos said. "These behaviors are what may really be 'contagious.'"

Kapinos conducted the study with Marquette University economist Olga Yakusheva. The study is the first to assess college weight gain using a natural experiment occurring on most college campuses in the United States—randomized roommate assignments.

"Previous studies have suggested that having an obese spouse, friend or sibling increases one's likelihood of becoming obese," Kapinos said. "But these relationships are obviously not random. People pick their friends and spouses, and they often select people who are similar to themselves. And even though we don't pick our siblings, we share a genetic inheritance and an early environment that may influence adult weight."

For the current study, which was presented this summer at the annual meeting of the American Society of Health Economists, the researchers assessed 144 female college students randomly assigned to share a living situation during their freshman year. At the start of the fall semester, the researchers obtained the women's weight and height, and asked about weight management behaviors. These included whether they had tried to lose weight at any time during the previous year, the average number of times per week they went to the gym and exercised outside, and whether they had signed up for an unlimited college meal plan.

The topic of peer influences on weight gain and weight management is important since obesity prevalence in young adults, aged 18 to 29, increased by 96 percent from 1988 to 2006—the largest percentage increase for all age groups.

Another study Kapinos and Yakusheva conducted found that freshmen assigned to dormitories with onsite dining halls gained more weight than those who had to venture outside of their dorms for food. Later this fall, the researchers will expand their study of the issue by analyzing a larger sample of students at a public university to see if roommate weight patterns persist. They will also examine other environmental influences and see if the findings vary with race, ethnicity or socioeconomic status.

"Our hope is that this line of research will have practical implications for university administrators and more generally for public health efforts aimed at reducing obesity," Kapinos said.

The “freshman 15” - the rapid weight gain believed to afflict many new college students when they begin school - appears to be a bit of an urban legend: a cautionary tale often told but not well substantiated.

Most normal-weight women -- almost 90 percent in a Cornell study of 310 college students -- yearn to be thinner. Half of underweight women want to lose even more weight, or stay just the way they are, thank you very much.

Recommended for you

The American Thoracic Society has published the results of a survey of the ATS membership on climate change which found that the majority of ATS members believe that climate change is real and that it is having a negative ...

A new study by the University of Texas Medical Branch found that 20 percent of men were prescribed testosterone despite having normal testosterone levels based on the Endocrine Society's guidelines. The study ...

A new study by California scientists has linked chronic exposure to microscopic air pollutants in vehicle exhaust to deaths from heart disease. The finding bolsters evidence that ultrafine particles, which are not regulated ...

Attendance at schools exposed to high levels of traffic-related air pollution is linked to slower cognitive development among 7-10-year-old children in Barcelona, according to a study published by Jordi Sunyer ...

Before she got pregnant in 2014, Lizzy King, 28, of East Lansing, Mich., gave herself a "lifestyle overhaul." She started running and lost 50 pounds. She eschewed processed food and ate her first banana.

Smokers have become accustomed to stepping outside at bars and restaurants. But has the change in rules governing enclosed public places inspired enough of them to smoke less behind their own closed doors ...

genius, simply genius. Of course you'll gain less as a women when you see how others around you respond to your heavier roommate. You'll hear the jokes and the little comments and want to avoid those. It kind of reminds me of the Dove lotion commercial where they used "real" women instead of models. It didn't have the intended affect. Skinny women felt better because it increased their perceived superiority, average women were concerned they looked like the ad, even if they did not and the fat women were reminded that they did in fact look like that. Basically, the whole thing backfired and hurt women's self esteem instead of helping it.

Please sign in to add a comment.
Registration is free, and takes less than a minute.
Read more

Click here to reset your password.
Sign in to get notified via email when new comments are made.

Javascript is currently disabled in your web browser. For full site functionality, it is necessary to enable Javascript.
In order to enable it, please see these instructions.